I treated myself recently after winning my fantasy football league. Free money is fun money.
The Brother 1034D is apparently the go-to starter serger (or overlocker, if you’re from one of the fancy countries with a cool accent), but I also found that the upgraded Brother 1034DX is available, too. However it’s an extra $80 for what is essentially a change of knob locations. No thanks.
I did take a little trip to my local sewing store, where they had a used Babylock Triumph on sale—for $2500. I about died. There is no way I could justify spending that much money on a machine, even though I recognize that it would be an investment rather than a mere purchase. But I only won a couple hundred dollars, not a few thousand!
So I bought myself the the OG Brother version…and that’s it. I haven’t used it yet. I barely took it out of the box to take these photos. It’s not that I’m necessarily scared to use it…but yeah, there’s some trepidation.
I mean, I also have two other projects to complete before I technically need it, but one needs to practice, right?
I plan to make my husband the Simplicity 8268 joggers per my #menswearmakenine plans. I’ve never made pants before, much less for a man. So now I’ve tripled my difficulty level!
I’m pretty sure this is going to revolutionize my sewing, though. Everyone says a serger is an absolute game changer, yes?
Here’s an aerial view. It’s a lot smaller than I expected (though HEAVY), and I even splurged for the carrying case so that I’d be able to store it in something.
It comes pre-threaded with these cute helicopter spool thingies atop different colored spools.
I’m pretty certain that’s the correct technical term for it, helicopter spool thing. Also included is a little piece of serged cloth. I guess that’s so you can tell which color does what.
Is this the front?
Or is this the front?
I’m sure I’ll find out as soon as I find the balls time to play with it.
Anyway, before I make those joggers (or sweatpants, if you’re not fancy), I think I’m going to practice on something for me. Something with as few seams as possible and with which I can use these multi-colored spools. I’m thinking a knit version of the Larchmont tee, which I hadn’t previously intended to make but then Project Sew It came across my radar and this month’s theme is tees. So there you go.
What was your first serged make?
That’s brilliant! Thank you!
The best way to change threads, if you haven’t heard already, is to cut existing thread just above the spool and tie the long tail to the new thread cone. Then serge in extra fabric to pull the threads through easily.
I already bought new cones because just looking at the thread you can tell it’s crappy. I’m looking forward to doing things like lettuce hems and all that fancy stuff!
For me, getting a serger was not the game changer I thought it would be. It's ridiculously useful for finishing–so much faster & more effective than anything else on fabrics that want to fray, like denim. But I still construct all my knits of my regular machine. There's probably a lot more I could do with the serger (I have the same one as you, & warning! The thread it comes with is kind of just for show, it breaks really easily), but I've never bothered to dive in on all the bells & whistles.